Manuscript Location

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library

Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

1828

Description

Following the death of her mother, Miriam Gratz Moses (1808-1891) was raised by her aunt, Rebecca Gratz (1781-1869), a noted Philadelphia philanthropist. The two women remained close into Miriam's adulthood, exchanging letters on the state of Jews in the South and news of cultural events in Philadelphia and Charleston, South Carolina, where Miriam initially settled with her husband, Solomon Cohen (1802-1875), whom she married in 1836. The couple later moved to Savannah, Georgia, where Solomon Cohen was a prominent lawyer, real estate developer, and banker, and where he served as postmaster, a state senator, and district attorney. His business enterprises were supported by slaves. Miriam Gratz and Solomon Cohen had two sons and a daughter. One of their sons, Gratz Cohen (1844-1865), died fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War Battle of Bentonville, South Carolina. 

Miriam Gratz Moses compiled her book around 1828, before she had married. The first 38 pages of the 76-page book contain culinary recipes. The remainder of the book comprises material typical of commonplace books, including a brief list of books read in 1826, Italian language exercises, a chronology of major events in French history, and verse and prose extracts copied from printed books. For the most part, the culinary recipes are like those seen in other American manuscript cookbooks of the early 19th century. However, the book does have four culturally Jewish recipes: Pesach Sponge Cake, Haroseth, "Koogle," and Passover Soup Dumplings. In addition, pork is not used (a recipe for sausages is made with beef), and meat and dairy are not cooked together. A recipe for White Fricassee of veal or chicken, which would ordinarily be enriched with cream, is instead finished with "2 eggs beaten light with a thickening of flour."

To view the digital images of the book, click on the link above, which will bring you to the library finding aid for the Miriam Gratz Moses Cohen papers, and then scroll down to "Series 2. Volumes, 1824-1828."